Cali DA Accused Of Starting Fire At Home of Escort He Had Sex With

YUBA CITY, Calif. — There are some people in Sarah Garibay‘s life who might be angry enough to burn down her house; the self-described former paid escort admits to breaking many hearts across California’s prune country.

She never suspected, though, that a call seeking comfort and advice from the county district attorney — a former lover — would put him under suspicion too.

“It baffled me,” she said.

Sutter County DA Carl Adams unusual hands-on involvement in a lowly fire investigation, on top of the woeful texts sent to Garibay proclaiming jealousy of her other suitors, prompted Yuba City police last month to name him as an arson fire suspect in a search warrant affidavit.

Other potential suspects include a wealthy married Sikh fruit farmer, a longtime client who is the alleged father of the woman’s year-old baby, and the woman’s boyfriend at the time.

Her 70-year-old estranged husband is not.

“I’ve made some bad choices with men,” the center of this love quadrangle, 32-year-old Garibay, told The Associated Press recently in a bid to clear Adams’ name. She said she doesn’t think — and never told police — that Adams should be an arson suspect.

Another bad choice was an ex-boyfriend now serving a 12-year-prison term for killing a local physician in 2010 when he caught the two in the act, she said. The district attorney’s office granted Garibay immunity for her testimony, which in hindsight has raised eyebrows across the community.

“There was in no way an exchange of sex for favors in the first trial. It makes for good headlines and soap opera, but it’s not the case,” she said. “I only met him this year.”

Adams, 65, seemingly was a pillar of the community — a Mason, Rotary Club officer and past president of the California District Attorneys Association.

The people of this town an hour north of Sacramento were shocked to learn their eight-term DA had been involved with an escort and was on the wrong side of an arson case.

“The hardest part, unfortunately, is not knowing if the allegations are true. If it’s true, it’s unfortunate because people put their trust in him,” Fotine Halikashkopriva said in front of her popular deli.

Adams, a jowly grandfather with a bushy mustache and large wire glasses, has kept a low profile recently and isn’t talking to the press, though he did tell the Marysville Appeal-Democrat at one point: “As far as my position in office, I never did anything illegal, unprofessional or unethical.”